ALBANY – Gov. Spitzer yesterday proposed greatly expanding the state DNA database by collecting samples from every person convicted of a crime, but also recommended moves designed to make it easier to clear the wrongly convicted.

Spitzer’s bill would also require DNA samples from those on probation or under parole supervision, as well as registered sex offenders, and would extend the statute of limitations for crimes in which DNA is recovered for which there is no match.

Currently, the state collects DNA samples from only about half of those convicted of crimes.

“Identification of criminals through DNA comparison is decisive, reliable and even-handed,” Spitzer said.

Last year, then-Gov. George Pataki and the GOP-controlled Senate sought to have every criminal provide DNA samples to the state databank – an idea supported by Spitzer, then the attorney general, but opposed by the Democrat-controlled Assembly.

In the end, a law was enacted requiring anyone convicted of a felony or a number of serious misdemeanors to give a sample.